I have not posted anything in such a long time however I've been following this conversation on vestibular disease and I think my 13 yr old Bk/Tn girl might have this. I took Ellie to our vet this morning because when she got up this am her balance was very off. She tried to stand up and fell over several times then once she got onto her feet she would take a step or two she appeared to have tripped and was staggering. Then she started circling repeatedly. It looked like she had a stroke and that something was very wrong. I did not notice if she had any eye movement though at the time because there was so much else going on and I was worried about her. She also seemed to be panting a lot. Our vet is not sure if it is vestibular disease because he did not see any rapid eye movement and she was better by the time we saw him, about 5 hours after her symptoms began. From following this post I decided to give her a dose of Cerenia to help with nausea and motion sickness. About 1-2 hours after I gave her the Cerenia she was much much better and was able to walk again without much stumbling. His other concern was possible SM however from what I know about SM her symptoms are different. She has no scratching and doesn't appear to have any pain. So our vet decided to treat her with Cerenia for the next 4-5 days and see if that helps. She is under a cardiologist care for her 4/5 heart murmur and is only on Vetmedin, 2.5mg twice a day. She just started the Vetmedin 3 months ago. She also has pulmonary hepertension along with mild heart enlargement. Our vet did not feel that her episode today was heart related.i would appreciate any thoughts and/or suggestions on what this could be.

Even though it's been quite a few years, I still remember how scared we were when Cody had his first episode of vestibular disease. We thought for sure his sugar levels had dropped and tried giving him Karo syrup, but it didn't do a thing. So, we rushed him over to the ER and thankfully his internal med dr was in that day. She checked his glucose levels and determined it wasn't that, and then diagnosed the vestibular disease. They also had a neurologist there, and he ran some tests and agreed it was vestibular disease.

What is scary is that, for some reason, some vets don't recognize that this is what is going on and tell people that the dog has had a stroke and probably won't recover. I remember another person in a group I belong to going thru this with his dog and was considering putting the dog down. Thankfully, some of us on the list had experienced this before and suggested he hold off on making any decisions. The dog did recover within a few days. That's not to say that it couldn't be a sign of something more serious, but best to hold off on any decisions until the dog has a chance to recover. It's something that most people really have never heard of before and because the symptoms come on so suddenly and are so dramatic, it can be very scary to watch your dog going thru it. It's almost like they're obsessed with having to walk, but all they can do is go in circles and can't keep their balance and keep falling.

Mary, That is exactly whats happening, the doctor prescribed ear drops a couple of months ago because he suspected an ear infection stemming from her teeth which are in really bad shape no matter what I do. Not only is she back to normal after about 24hr but she seems better than before the episode specifically her energy level and stability. The first time I rushed her to the doctor, she was still a bit weak but recovering. The other night it started at about 6:00PM, 11:00PM I picked her up to take her out and she peed all over me and couldn't stand on her own or walk sideways and seemed drunk, at about 4AM I took her out again and wouldn't move but was dribbling pee there was also some head nodding. I gave her Rescue Remedy and 20MG Lasix, though I didn't feel she needed it at the time but It may have helped drain some fluid from ear, by morning she was fine. Very scary! Georgie is on about 20 different herbs and supplements in addition to some potent homeopathic remedies, I was hoping it could be what is known in homeopathy as a "Healing Crisis" but based on what I just read about Idiopathic or “Old Dog” Vestibular Disease, I think you nailed it. Thanks!